


Your Mark On Me

by Liza_Taylor



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Gift Fic, Soulmates, soul mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23830447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liza_Taylor/pseuds/Liza_Taylor
Summary: Claude wasn't one to believe in soulmarks, despite being born with one on his back. That is, until he met Byleth.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 141
Collections: The Golden Gifts - Claudeleth Fic/Art Exchange





	Your Mark On Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kerua](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerua/gifts).



> Claudeleth art/fic exchange for @singing_swan

Khalid was born with an odd birthmark on his back. It looked like a piece of a tree branch over his left shoulder blade, the dark brown color much darker than his skin. His father thought nothing of it, along with the rest of his Alymran family.

Tiana though, recognized it immediately, remembering the stories told back in her home country of Fodlan. Tales told in the middle of the night by girls during sleepovers. Stories about these marks that meant two souls were meant to be together. How the characters in the old stories would fight to make their dreams come true and be with the one destiny chose for them. Some of the stories ended happy, others in tragedy. Tiana remembered fondly how after the stories were told, all the girls would examine their bodies for any odd birthmarks that could be taken for a soulmark. Alas, besides a few bruises that faded the next day, she never saw one in person.

“My son, I hope you find the one who bears your mark.” She hugged the small bundle tight, praying that his own story would not end in tragedy.

***

Khalid never really thought of the mark that touched his left shoulder. It was just a part of him, a funny birthmark that only Tiana put more significance to. He had bigger things to worry about than a birthmark, like trying to fit into a place where he was different than everyone else, his schemes being one of the few things that kept him alive.

That is until he changed his name to Claude and entered the officers academy. At first it was business as usual, Claude von Riegan of the Leicester Alliance being the sly schemer he was, hedgy about his origins. Until _she_ appeared.

The mercenary that helped fight off bandits, the woman that became a new professor at the academy, the person that Claude thought he could use for his own ends, she was the one who changed everything.

Claude realized it when he was changing into his uniform one morning, his eye catching something on his back in the mirror. A quick look over and he realized the branch birthmark on his shoulder was getting bigger. It extended to his spine and he saw another mark on his other shoulder.

No way. This couldn’t be possible.

He rubbed his shoulder blade, attempting to make the mark go away. Nothing, the area turned red from being irritated but it was obviously not dust or dirt. His birthmark was getting bigger.

He thought back to what Tiana had told him about it. The mark would get bigger when he met the one he was destined to be with. Was there a time gap between meeting the person and getting the mark? He had not been paying attention to the mark so who knew how long it had been.

For a moment he thought about Byleth but dismissed the thought immediately. No way, it couldn’t be her. But it was the only thing that changed recently, the only new person he had met, well besides her father but Claude knew he didn’t swing that way. This needed further observation.

***

As the school year went on, Claude became closer to their new emotionless professor. And discovered she was not emotionless at all, her gentle smile tugging at his heartstrings. At first he wanted to use her, especially when he found out she could use the sword of the creator, but as time went on, he knew it was more than that. He wanted to be with her for the person she was becoming, the kind, yet stern woman that went out of her way to care for all of her students. He saw how she cared for Marianne’s depression, encouraged Ignatz to paint and even worked out with Raphael. She cared for everyone and he loved how her face lit up whenever he had a conversation with her.

It had to be her.

Claude looked at his back, the birthmark consuming it in its entirety. The crest of flames, Byleth’s crest. It was her, it could only be her. He knew he would tell her once the school year was over. No point in making things weird since she was his professor. What would happen then though? Would the mark on his back go away or would it remain forever?

Did Byleth have a matching one on her somewhere of his family’s crest? What if she didn’t? What if she didn’t share his feelings? Claude was vividly able to remember his mother’s stories. The failed ones where the lovers didn’t end up together. Fate can be cruel at times and only give the mark to one of the pair. Sometimes the other one was able to love the one bearing the mark, but more often than not, it wasn’t the case. The marked lover would be heartbroken, forced to live a life without their true love, never able to take another lover, as their soul was destined for their soulmate alone.

Claude didn’t know if he could handle that. Not knowing might be better in this case. Then there was no risk of heart ache, no risk of losing something precious to him. Having her close to him was fine and she had vowed to help him fulfill his dream. That was enough for him, that had to be enough for him.

“I’m such a coward,” he whispered to himself in the mirror. Being a coward had gotten him this far though.

That’s what he thought until Garreg Mach turned into a battleground.

***

Byleth was gone.

In the aftermath of the battle to protect Garreg Mach, Claude searched for her. “Teach!” he called, “Teach!” He couldn’t find her. She wasn’t anywhere around Garreg Mach and he was forced to retreat to Leicester Alliance territory and follow the troops to regroup. Edelgard had thrown normalcy aside, Fodlan was now at war. The Alliance needed someone to lead it, to help guide them through these troubled times.

Claude felt that weight fall on his shoulders, pressing down on him, threatening to crush him as the eyes of his friends and the eyes of the Alliance Lords and the eyes of the soldiers followed his every movement.

_“What do we do Claude?”_ They always seemed to ask.

_“Let me grieve!”_ he wanted to respond. _“Teach is gone! Let me cry for her.”_

Or was she? When he finally reached his Alliance home, he was able to take a bath. Being on the road for days without a change of clothes meant he never saw the mark on his back. Truthfully he was scared to look. Tiana had also told Claude that when the soulmate died, the mark would fade, the intense feelings fading with it.

He took off his shirt and stared at his back in the mirror and wanted to sob.

It was still there.

As dark as it was before, Byleth’s crest of flames stared back at him. Teach was still alive. She was still out there somewhere. “Thank everything,” he whispered. He lowered his head, taking in a few deep, slow breaths. Maybe she had gotten captured, maybe there was something she had to do, either way, Byleth was still out there. He knew her, he knew the kind of person she was, as long as there was breath in her body, she would fight to return to her students. And to him.

All he had to do was pave the way for her to return.

“I’ll take care of things while you’re gone Teach,” he said to the mark on his back. “No matter how long it takes as long as you’re still alive, I’ll do it.”

***

Five years later, Claude traveled to the Goddess Tower, the memory of the promise driving him there. It was a risk going this far from the Alliance territory but he knew he had to. The mark on his back was still there, Byleth was still alive. She never broke a promise.

He stared at the rising sun from on top of the tower, the faint inkling of doubt in the back of his mind. Was she not coming after all? Would this promise be broken? Would-

“Claude?”

He turned to the soft whisper. She stood at the top of the stairs, her light green hair was frazzled, clothing a mess, her eyes betrayed confusion, but it was her.

“Claude…it’s…you? Isn’t it?” She took a tentative step forward and then another.

He put on his easy going smile, trying hard to fight the urge to run to her, to hug her tight. “I know it’s been five years but really, it’s just me Teach.”

She stopped in front of him, her eyes seeming to examine every line of his face. “You’re…”

“Older?” he supplied.

“More battle-worn.” A trace of sorrow lit her eyes as she reached up and cupped his face with a hand. “I didn’t want you to see some of the same things I have.”

After a moment of hesitation, he reached up and put his hand over hers. “It’s okay Teach, I held it together…for you. Until you came back.”

“Until I came back?” She looked at him in confusion. “How were you so sure that I would come back?”

He gulped, the words he wanted to say not coming out. “It was just pure luck?” he said quickly.

“Pure luck? You?” She raised an eyebrow and gave him that no nonsense look from back at the academy when she knew he was lying. “You never leave anything to luck, you have a backup plan for the backup plan.”

Claude winced. Why did Byleth have to know him so well? “Okay, maybe I did have a plan.”

“Which was?” She prompted.

He rubbed the back of his neck, debating hard on what to do right now. However, he knew what he had to do, it was something he had thought about for the last five years whenever he looked at the mark on his back. She had to know. He lost his chance once and he wasn’t going to lose it again.

He took a step back. “It’s going to look weird, but trust me on this one okay?”

“Uh, sure…” She said slowly.

Claude undid the sash around his waist and got to work removing his gloves and all the little accessories.

“What are you doing?” She asked as he shrugged off the jacket and set it on the ground next to him.

“Trust me Teach, please. I told you it was going to be weird.” He couldn’t look her in the eye, his face turning bright red. Stripping in front of Byleth, even if it was to show the mark on his back, was very, very awkward. Especially since she seemed to have a different idea of what he was doing. Which he honestly wouldn’t be opposed to-Claude silenced that line of thought immediately.

Byleth fell silent but he could feel her eyes on him as he turned around and took off his shirt, showing her his back. “It’s a soulmark, not a tattoo,” he stammered. “I’ve had a part of it ever since I was born and after meeting you, it expanded and turned into this. My mother told me stories about these soulmarks, she said that it shows the person I am destined to be with. The mark is also said to fade if the person I’m destined for dies and well, I knew it was you Teach. You’re the person this mark represents and I checked it every day and it never faded so I knew you were alive…”

Silence.

Claude’s courage was fading fast. Why wasn’t she saying anything? Did she believe him? Oh Seiros, what if she didn’t have a mark or his mark was for someone else entirely? Damn it.

“Teach….say something…please…” He turned around and startled as Byleth had shrugged off her coat and armor. “Teach, what are you doing!?”

She turned her back to him, pulling up her top until he could see the mark on her back. A mark similar to his own, only in the shape of the crest of Riegan. His crest.

“Teach…you…”

“I was wondering the same myself.” She put her top back in place before turning around to look at him with a bright smile. “My soulmark had been there ever since we first met.”

He thought back on her behaviors five years ago. How she always tried to be close to him, how she had always seek him out, how she always had a conversation with him, always asking his advice on things.

“You…”

“I was going to ask you once you graduated the academy.”

He blinked and then chuckled. “I was going to do the same myself.”

“Of course we had the same idea on the matter.”

“Of course we did…” Claude took a couple steps until he was in front of her and put his arms around her in a tight hug, his head buried in her shoulder. “I missed you Teach. I missed you so much.”

She put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him back just as tight. “I missed you too Claude,” she whispered.

He released her and cleared his throat, realizing how awkward and weird this probably looked from the outside. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and she was in the equivalent of her under clothes. “So, uh, where were you anyway?” He grabbed his shirt from the ground and quickly threw it back on and began the process of putting on the rest of his clothes.

“Apparently asleep in a river for five years.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, I’m not too sure about that either. But what have you been up to Claude? What’s been happening the past five years?” She finished putting on her armor and grabbed her coat to throw over it.

“There’s a lot to tell to be honest. We should probably go somewhere more comfortable before I go into it.” He adjusted the sash and checked to make sure his cape and armor were in order.

“Sounds good, it’s quite drafty up here.”

He walked to the stairs and then looked back at her and held out a hand. “It’s a bit unsafe so maybe…” he stammered, his face turning red.

She smiled and set her hand in his. “It would be safer to hold hands I think.”

He couldn’t help the dorky smile from spreading across his face. He had the feeling that no matter what, everything was going to be fine, as long as they were together.


End file.
